Details

Date Published

Date Built

CPU Clock Rate

CPU Temperature While Idle

31.0° C

CPU Temperature Under Load

64.0° C

GPU Core Clock Rate

1.241 GHz

GPU Effective Memory Clock Rate

7.01 GHz

GPU Temperature While Idle

33.0° C

GPU Temperature Under Load

68.0° C

Description

I was well overdue for a new PC build and what pushed me over the edge was the need to have a compact gaming rig that could handle anything I could throw at it and be portable. I didn't want anything flashy with a crazy amount of neon lights or anything like that. I spent a lot of time researching what case would be best as well as the hardware. I was originally going to go with the X99 chipset in a mATX case, but after some research I realized that it would be overkill and an unnecessary expense for gaming. Small form factor was what I was looking for so mITX was the way for me to go.

I took these pictures just using a large white cardboard background and some of them turned out surprisingly well.

EDIT Since these pictures were taken, I turned around the fans on the H100i to act as an intake rather than exhaust. I had to do this in order to have positive pressure in the case. It's quite unfortunate because I liked it better for looks when the fans were on the inside.

Part Reviews

CPU Cooler

I had a bad experience with water cooling back in 2007 and have sworn off of it since. However, with the release of these factory sealed closed loop systems, I had to give it another try since space was going to be very limited. So far it's working great and keeps the CPU extremely cool under load.

Video Card

I can't say enough good things about this EVGA 980. In fact, I don't think I'm going to buy anything but EVGA in the future. The build quality is amazing in this thing. When you pick it up and feel the weight and materials used, you know it's a quality product. It's slicing through everything that I've thrown at it so far.

Case

I absolutely love the Corsair 250D. It's a sexy, minimalist case that is built for a water cooled mITX rig. The fan filters were a MUST and these are easily removable. My case is set up with all fans as intake and exhaust is passive. This insures that I have a positive pressure case and that no dust or hair is sucked in through an area where there isn't a filter.

Case Fan

These fans look great and are incredibly quiet. First time I turned it on and they spooled down after start-up I thought the computer died because they were so quiet. The interchangeable color trim around the edge is great for matching your setup.

Case Fan

These fans look great and are incredibly quiet. First time I turned it on and they spooled down after start-up I thought the computer died because they were so quiet. The interchangeable color trim around the edge is great for matching your setup.

I was just going to ask about the mobo/cpu combo, since you can OC the processor and the obo is not a Z97. Thanks for sharing this bit of information. I might buy a G3258 and slap it in my H81 and see what I can do with it.

I think I originally had a Z97 mobo chosen, but for some reason or other I ended up changing to an H97. I think it was because I couldn't find any Amazon Prime Z97's and I was trying to limit my search to that. I know it's not a great reason, but I wanted everything relatively quickly. I won't be able to overclock through the BIOS, but I guess the future will tell if that will be an issue or not.

its possible that OPs not interested in overclocking... but when you have to ask why get the K version of the CPU. only reasoning I could see, is the ~$50 price difference on Newegg and the omitting of wifi/bluetooth.

Love this build!! - your tagline of "Silent but Deadly" really got my attention as I am looking for a low db gaming build.
Question, with the fan layout are you pulling in outside air into the radiator, and the front fan is it set to intake or exhaust - I ask because other builds are stating they had to add exhaust fans in the back to keep temps down.

Any idea of the db level under load/ at idle?
Thanks, and again gorgeous build